Jan. 24, 2008, Grand Rapids, Mich. - The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship kicks off its annual Worship Symposium today with a keynote address by an Emory University music professor whose talk will be available as a live video stream.
This is the first time that the symposium has offered Web visitors the chance to view a live feed of one of its events. More than 100 pastors, worship leaders, musicians, authors and liturgical specialists from across the United States and Canada will be speaking or participating in the 2008 Calvin Symposium on Worship, set for Jan. 24-26.
The symposium, which meets on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, will include more than 1,600 participants from some 40 countries.
The live video stream can be accessed through
www.calvin.edu/worship/sympos. RealPlayer media software, which is needed to view the speech, can be downloaded through the symposium site at http://www.calvin.edu/admin/webmanager/realplayer/
"We think this live video will be a great way to include pastors and worship leaders who weren't able to come to symposium, including many international guests whose visas were inexplicably denied," says worship institute assistant director Kristen Verhulst.
Today at 3:30 p.m. EST the symposium will broadcast an introductory welcome and the opening plenary address by Dr. James Abbington, entitled "One Hundred Years of Gospel in One Hour."
Abbington is professor of music and worship at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also author of several books on music and worship in the African American tradition. His presentation will combine lecture and musical performance as he takes listeners through the history of music in African American worship.
On Friday at 3:45 p.m. EST, the symposium will broadcast the plenary address by Dallas Willard entitled "Worship as the Fine Texture of Real Life." Willard is an American philosophy professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angles and a widely read author of books on Christian spirituality.
His book "Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ" won Christianity Today's 2003 Book Award for books on spirituality. His latest book is "The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship."
The plenary addresses will also be archived and available after the symposium at the same Web address. In addition, audio recordings from several other workshops and seminars will be available over the Web following the symposium (for recordings from last year's symposium, go to www.calvin.edu/worship/sympos/2007).
Online registration for the symposium has closed, but walk-up registration will be available beginning on Thursday at Calvin College (link: http://www.calvin.edu/worship/sympos/2008/walkup.php). In addition, worship services at Symposium will be open to the public (link: http://www.calvin.edu/worship/sympos/2008/worship.php).
The symposium draws participants from more than 30 denominations and some 40 countries. It has become a major event in the life of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, says Nathan Bierma, communications and research coordinator for the institute.
In 2007, 41 of 47 CRC classes, and 195 out of 1,057 congregations were represented. "Many churches came in groups, also including elders, musicians, worship committee members, and/or youth leaders and young people," says Bierma.
-By Chris Meehan, CRC Communications
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Henry Hess
Director of Communication
Christian Reformed Church
To learn more about the Christian Reformed Church visit www.crcna.org <http://www.crcna.org